That missing symbol on reel 2 (or any reel), or any near-misses where a 3rd scatter misses by 1 position is known as “gambler’s” fallacy. The fallacy is by design and slots have been doing it for decades. The mentioning of Megaways / max Megaways is a red herring.
Another example of gambler’s fallacy is on roulette. This is where the wheel has landed on black for the last 8 spins, so you bet on red thinking that red is due but it lands on black again.